Bastille Day is France's biggest holiday, celebrated annually on 14 July to commemorate the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 that sparked the French Revolution, Euronews reports.
France is celebrating its biggest national holiday, Bastille Day, with military jet flyovers, a drone light show over the Eiffel Tower and fireworks in almost every city.
Around 7,000 people are marching on riding on horseback or in armoured vehicles, along the cobblestones of the iconic Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris, with events planned to take place across the country.
The holiday marks the day when Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison on 14 July 1789, the event that sparked the French Revolution, ultimately overthrowing the monarchy.
In the ensuing two centuries, France witnessed Napoleon's empire rise and fall, followed by uprisings and two world wars, before settling into today's Fifth Republic established in 1958.
Bastille Day has become a central holiday in modern France, celebrating democracy and national pride.
The military parade beneath the Arc de Triomphe had such an impact on visiting US President Donald Trump in 2017 that it inspired him to stage his own parade earlier this year.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron is to review the troops and relight the eternal flame beneath the Arc de Triomphe.
The Paris event includes flyovers by fighter jets, trailing red, white and blue smoke. Then the evening sees a drone light show and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.
